Interestingly, Mallett predicted to be SEC Offensive POY ahead of last year's Heisman winner Ingram. Also noticed a blast from the past in Cobrani Mixon at Kent State being picked as an All-MAC LB, FWIW.

Trent Richardson is likely going to swipe some of Ingram's carries this year. It's been pretty much acknowledged that Ingram isn't even the most talented back on his team. Alabama will likely ride a two-headed rushing attack on its way to another SEC championship, although the loss of 10 starters on defense makes me think they'll actually lose a game or two this year.

Mallett should be the best QB in the SEC by far, so a fairly safe choice.

Pretty much everyone agrees with you that the top 3 teams will probably be OSU, Wisconsin, Iowa but I really doubt Iowa will be up that high. They lost a lot of key guys and best of all, they still have Stanzi.

but I have to respectfully disagree. They've got a lot of good players coming back. DE Adrian Clayborn and S Tyler Sash are two of the best in the Big Ten at their positions. They also bring back DJK and Marvin McNutt as their starting WR's and have a very deep 3-headed monster of Adam Robinson, Brandon Wegher, and Jewel Hampton at RB. Yes, Stanzi makes some puzzling interceptions from time to time, but the Iowa offense was pretty lost without him last last year after he got hurt. I think he just has the leadership and intangibles of an upper-tier quarterback. I really think it's going to be a dogfight for 2nd place between Iowa and Wisconsin in the conference.

... they lost key guys in Bulaga, Angerer, Edds and Spievey, for sure. But 8 starters back from the nation's #10 total D, and #8 Scoring D. Plus the schedule is set up. They get Wisco, MSU, Penn State and Ohio State at home, plus get a great road draw with the two weakest B10 in 2010 in Minny and Indiana. If this team isn't top 3 B10 by end of year, I would say they really underperformed.

I'd like to see us ranked higher also, but right now, there are too many "ifs" for too many positions. As the season progresses, we will see just how much things have improved, but if I were doing the ranking, and if I were OBJECTIVE, it would be hard to justify placing Michigan near the top of the BT.

As for Ohio State, they are an experienced team with a lot of talent. The fact that we hate them does not negate the facts.

With a team this young and with so little experienced depth, the last thing we need is to be ranked highly. It's not unreasonable, after the last two seasons, that the media are not too impressed with our prospects.

What's more remarkable to me than the overall ranking is the fact that Michigan is the only conference school without at least one player on their all-conference list. That's a pretty dramatic fall in three years. Hopefully, the season will reveal that this list needed to include a bunch of Wolverines.

I'm curious, do you think any UM players should be on that list? There are some quality players (Roh and Molk immediately jump to mind), but there are better players at those positions on other teams (Clayborn and Kerrigan at DE, Wisniewski and Brewster at C). Being as objective as I can, right now it's hard to see any UM players who I would put on a preseason all-conference team (first team, anyway). By the end of the season that could change, of course.

Really? Honestly, I'm surprised that they picked the kid from NW. WI (and to a lesser extent PSU and Iowa) have owned that position in the conference for years. It seems as though WI has an endless cache of quality pass catchers at TE. Graham is gone from UW, and Kendricks is coming back - and he had a great year in 2009.

I guess I could see Koger stepping up to that next level, but he's only a JR.

for a first team. As others have mentioned, Wisniewski's moving back to guard. Center is likely a three-way race between Moffitt, Molk and Brewster. I wouldn't be surprised to see Moffitt take it by end of year with Wisconsin's power running game. I think they have the advantage over Molk in that their teams will likely have better records, and interior lineman isn't the type of position that you can just dust peers with individual stats. I tend to look at Coach's selections versus the media on these picks at year end as they're the ones breaking down the film.

TUOOS will go as TP goes. If he goes down the toilet, they have a QB situation similar to Threet/Sheridan... I hope for their sake he doesn't get hurt, but I bet he will be discouraged from leaving the pocked too much this year. This will hurt his productivity just like last year, he runs like a gazell and should be allowed to do so...against everyone but us.

I'm afraid that 7th is a pretty fair prediction. I don't see UM finishing any higher than 5th place next season and I expect to see them finish somewhere between 6th and 8th place.

My prediction for 2010:

OSU

Wisconsin

Iowa

Penn State

MSU

Michigan

N'Western

Purdue

Illinois

Minnesota

Indiana

I think OSU through Purdue will all qualify for bowl games.

The most ridiculous prediction that I saw in that piece was Washington finishing 2nd in the Pac-10! I'll eat my hat if UW finishes any better than 6-6 in 2010. They were 5-7 last season, but were the beneficiary of two INCREDIBLY lucky wins last season against USC (in their annual "We Didn't Get Off the Bus" sleepwalk loss) and the Arizona game with the "Immaculate Interception" that won the game for UW.

In my opinion Locker is being as improperly hyped as Pryor. This looks to be a REALLY weak year for QB's in CFB. Locker's on-field production has been decent but unspectacular (53.4% completion rate, 6.6 YPA, 36 TD to 26 INT in 2+ years as a starter; if you didn't know the name an only looked at the stats, would you think these were the numbers of a Heisman favorite?) and he is merely the "best available" Senior QB with any name recognition plus he was a 5 star QB recruit and they seem to always remain in the Heisman discussion throughout their college careers.

What has Sarkisian actually accomplished at this point to warrant any great expectations from him as a college coach?

UW's schedule is too difficult for them to have a good season unless they made MASSIVE improvement from last year IMO.

@ BYU - likely loss

Syracuse - win

Nebraska - likely loss

@USC - loss

Arizona St. - likely win

Oregon St. - tossup

@Arizona - likely loss

Stanford - tossup

@Oregon - loss

UCLA - likely win

@ Cal - likely loss

@Wash St. - win

By my predictions, I see four likely wins, 6 likely losses and two tossups.

but I just don't see UW winning more than 7-8 games, and that's just not good enough to win the heisman, no matter how ridiculous his stats are. I DO think that Locker is going to be one awesome QB in the NFL, though.

The media is trying to push Jake as the next big QB. I have been reading alot of articles on him and they all seem to push him as the top guy in the pac-10 this year, so the team automatically gets a bump.

Decent list. I am willing to go along with you for the most part. But why have MSU higher than Michigan? Even if I thought MSU would finish better, writing it down for all to see would give me the dry heaves. But I respect the fact that you are trying to be objective. I am trying to look at it objectively as well, and I see Michigan finishing higher than spartie.

I think both MSU and UM will finish 4-4 in conference play, but I believe that MSU will win all of their non-conference games and finish 8-4 while UM will lose to ND and finish 7-5.

I think UM will beat MSU in AA, however, so I guess you could put them ahead of MSU because they would both be 4-4 in Big 10 play but UM would have the head-to-head win. I merely chose to go by overall record combined with conference record.

So I was at the neighborhood swim meet last night talking to my OSU and WVU alumni neighbors. We were talking about 45 days to go, and what games we might go to this year.

The WVU grad asked me how long it takes to get to Ann Arbor: 11 hours, and I have to drive through West Virginia and Columbus to get there. I joked that I'd probably have to take my Michigan sticker and plate frame off for the trip. Maize and Blue might fly in West Virginia, but a block M might get me shot. Then there's the Ohio state troopers.

Anyway, WVU grad says Michigan fans are OK, as long as they don't have "we love Rich Rod" stuff. (My, they really took this personal. He mentioned RIch has still not sold his house in WVA.) And then he asks me who I think we replace Rich with at the end of the season? Jim Harbaugh? Throwuing in how he can't beleive we hired GERG.

So OSU grad says, Jim Harbaugh is their worst nightmare. They actually hope Rich succeeds, because brining in Jim harbaugh is like bringing in Jim Tressell - a coach who gets it.So we talked about Jim Harbaugh and how Stanford seems to be on a lot of recruits lists, etc.

Then OSU grad mentions the rumors out of Columbus, and how the offensive players are saying how "sick" the offense will be this year: they'll still have the vanilla playbook for when they don't need the wide open one, but there will be more than we saw at the Rose Bowl. And oh by the way, Boren is really working out for them - thanks. I replied, yeah but you got a traitor, to which he countered Boren just recoginized the error of his ways an came home.

We talked a little about USC, UNC, toUSC, Florida, etc. How it is dawning on USC how much they have been smacked, and how they might take a more humble approach. OSU guy mentions our own NCAA outcome pales to all this recruiter gate stuff.

So we talk Michigan, and WVU asks if we have a QB this year. I respond that we have two, and one coming up in the wings. OSU guy says Shoelace is who they are worried about. Particularly if he masters the read option.

I should state that all the OSU fans I know are alumni, and while they talk smack, they are way more respectful (than WVU fans) of what we're going through, and worried about the possible outcomes. (They don't bring it up, but are based in the Cooper years.)

WVU fans will never forgoive Rich Rod. (Woe be the family who buys his house.) At least until they start loosing enough, and Rich is available to come back as the messiah. In the meantime they just want Rich to fail totally. (And they watch our games when they don't conflict, and gloat everytime something bad happens.)

Yeah, its such a bullcrap argument and excuse. If Coach Rod didnt get it when he first came, I am sure he gets it now. I grew up a ND fan, from NYC, before going to Michigan and I know how powerful the rivalry is. I hate ND now, dont even want them in the BIG10. Not everyone starts as a Michigan Man, its how you end up.

Meyer certainly "got" the rivalry after getting beaten in the 2007 game, marked by Georgia's intentional excessive celebration penalty after their first touchdown.

After one loss in any rivalry game, the coach can't help but "get it." They take crap for the next 364 days or so. I'm guessing RR fully "got" the OSU rivalry by Sunday morning after the 2008 game. I would venture to say that there is nobody who wants to see Michigan beat OSU more than RR does, and nobody who understands the rivalry better now.

i would guess that RR "got" the game before he played it in 08, but then saw his qbs and realized that even though he "gets" its, there was nothing he could do to prevent him from getting it. its not like UM-OSU is some sort of small rivalry, EVERYONE involved in college football "GETS" it!

Sam is not from Unicron, so he does not "get" the Decepticons and Autobots rivalry.

Kermit is not from Sesame Street, he does not "get" the Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch rivalry.

Rumsfeld is not from Baghdad, he does not "get" the Sunni and Shiite rivalry (maybe true).

It has nothing to do with your state of origin, it has everything to do with understanding the culture of the school. Tressel "gets it" because he understands how important it is to everyone here to beat Michigan. It was damn near the first thing he mentioned in public after being hired. RR doesn't seem to "get it" yet. Carr got it - he knew that beating OSU mattered to UM fans. Cooper never got it; he thought that just winning a lot of games would be enough. It's never enough. You have to beat your rivals. That's why Meyer and Brown are so loved (well, one of the reasons).

Personally, I don't think RR "gets it". I don't think he understands rivalries and how important they are. I mean, his team came out flat against a fired up Pitt team with a trip to the national title game on the line. He has to understand that it's not just another game. He doesn't seem to impart this sense of urgency to his players. It's a damn shame, too, because it's clear that he knows how to coach (offensive) football very well. Maybe he's a better coordinator than HC...I dunno. Either way, I, too, hope for his success, because I believe he would be just like Cooper: win a lot of games, but generally stink against OSU. I really don't want to see Harbaugh up there (not that I think he would take the job - he seems to love California).

Maybe he "gets" it, but has been hamstrung from having a team with craters in its lineup (in 2008) and having a pair of mistake-prone freshman QBs (in 2009) in his first two meetings? Have you ever entertained that line of reasoning?

That certainly would explain how the Wannstache utterly pantsed the far superior WVU team in the example that I used.

And what are you pissed off about? Providing insight into the rationale is the point. I'm amazed that people get so upset when you say that you think a guy is a good coach and wish him success while pointing out the one obvious flaw in his resume.

Why would I be pissed off? Your argument is comical. It's not serious enough to be anger-inducing.

Since you are apparently serious, let me ask you this: what in the H-E-double hockey sticks does Dave Wannstedt taking advantage of Pat White's broken thumb have to do with whether or not Rich Rodriguez "gets" that OSU is a big game?

Here is all that needs to be "gotten" about a rivalry: it's a big game, so you should try your best and prepare your hardest. I'll make sure to email RR this insightful tidbit in case he doesn't know.

My interpretation is Harbaugh worries him because he is a product of Bo, lived the rivalry under Bo, and much like Tressel and Dantonio would come in day one and rally players, fans and boosters around it. And oh by the way, he's proved he can win a rivalry game with lesser talent.

Not to mention that Harbaugh would have a head start in the hearts and minds department based on his havign played at Michigan.

Thanks. I see his point. Lets just say we never hired Coach Rod and went and got Gruden(ND lover) or any established great coach. I think I would be thrilled and I think everyone gets the rivalry. I just want someone that wins and wins the right way, without problems.

I totally understand why we hired Rich. He was a hot commodity, the leading authority on that speedy spread thingy that kept killing us, and the loss to Pitt and internal issues at WVU practically landed him at our doorstep.

Not to mention he was coached by Don Nehlen, and brought in to coach by Don Nehlen. This makes Rich an extended 2nd cousin sort of part of the Bo coaching tree [WVA cousin jokes notwithstanding].

So, if I were Bill Martin, I would have hired him too. I just would have committed to paying the damned termination fee up front to avoid the whole muddy law suit thing. (i.e., UofM hired him, and Bill Martin should have hired him "the right way".)

I question a few things about Rich (the past doesn't matter, and not totally outwardly embracing the OSU rivalry to name a few). He's had some public miscues, and some of them have been laid on him.

The NCAA thing is all about doing 60 in a 55 or loosely interpreting some unclear or il-defined bylaws, and being reported for 100 in a 55. [The QC Staff were interpreted to be ok as part time interdepartmental S&C staff. After the fact the NCAA determined they were not qualified, therefore any activity they undertook in a "S&C staff" role was determined to be countable coached activity. We didn't even have forms to prove countable hours because they weren't being submitted even before Rich's tenure. The whole thing rests on miscommunicated interpretations.]

Bottom line is, I believe that Rich can be very successful "the right way". he obviously was at WVU, and should be able to be here. I hope he really is - with a breakout this year.

However - I forgot the term OSU guy used last night - there is what should be able to happen, versus whether the environment around Rich makes it impossible. Sometimes you need a change in leadership, to get a change in direction (e.g., watch 12 O'Clock High).

If we get to the point where Rich is fired. I think Harbaugh is one of the first people called. Don't get me wrong, Jim has warts too: a big mouth to start with. But Jim was at Michigan when I was, was in some of my History classes. If he were to be the next coach at Michigan, I would be behind him 100%.

In the meantime, I support Rich and the team 100% as is. And I don't see where winning "the right way" is not something they are trying very hard to do.

Great point about the connection with Bo. I didnt think of that right off the bat. Coach Rod wasnt who I wanted. Being from NYC, you watch alot of Big East football and I hated his offense. I always thought that a spread offense that ran as much as he did at WVU was a oxymoron. Kind of like a wishbone passing attack. When we got him, I thought wow, big name who turned Alabama down but are we going to run it as much as the old days. My friends from Big East schools said he was pretty shady and could give us a bad name, but they did say he was a winner.

I knew that I would support him because its not about what I want. Its about the school. I want what everyone on this board wants which is for us to win, but I would rather lose than tarnish our name. You are absolutely right about the past and I also questioned some of Coach Rod's decisions in the past. But now, I feel for him. I think even if he has a bad season, he may deserve one more year. I think it is really sad that he never got a fresh start.

As for if he does leave, I dont want Harbaugh. I loved him as a QB, but I still cant believe he said what he said about Michigan. Family business should be kept in the family and not aired in public. I know I might have rambled a bit, but I thought this was a great conversation.

As far as Harbaugh is concerned, as long as what he said is true (athletes were steered to to easier degree programs), and he said it for the right reasons (they should be encouraged and supported to pursue degrees of choice), then I don't have a real issue. He came out on the side of student athletes from his own experience as one.

Because his comments got tied in with Ann Arbor News' insinuation of easy grades from a specific professor -- well he can't steer the context.

I would prefer he didn't comment, but as long as the comment was fair: OK.

I think his whole situation changed my view on him. Considering that he is a Michigan Man, I thought that should be kept in house. Right or wrong, you have to be loyal to your school. If Coach Rod is gone, is Harbaugh your choice. Or would you like to keep the spread system?

The fact that Lloyd Carr and Mike Hart were both pissed off strongly suggests to me that what Harbaugh said wasn't "fair." (Not to mention that Harbaugh was repeatedly offered the chance to take back or clarify what he said, and he responded every time by piling on.)

are as good at developing talent as their WVU reputation said they were. What was one of the main knocks on Lloyd Carr?... that he didn't develop the talent that he recruited. One of the major reasons so many UM fans celebrated the hiring of RR was that he was supposed to develop great teams with just 3-star players, and "gee, he'll be awesome once he gets to UM and can recruit equally with the big boys."

Now's the time for the rubber to meet the road. Obviously the won-loss record is the most important thing, but if the post-season All-conference lists closely resemble ESPN's list in terms of an absolute absence of UM guys, that would not be encouraging, to say the least.

We at the MGoBlog obsess about all things Michigan and are aware of the most minute progress made by Denard or Tate. We follow the depth obsessively and analyze accordingly. This is not the case with the mainstream media who, basically, look at the last couple years of record, maybe account recruiting, add in "gut feeling" and Michigan is 7th, apparently.

If the development of the team persists and *god help me* David Molk retains his health I predict success come September.

My brother-in-law's uncle's cousin's step-brother, told me that he heard that the kid down the block ranked us 5th in the Big Ten. Seriously though, as amped as I am for the season, these rankings/projections are really worthless.

I will believe Pryor is the Big 10's #1 QB when he shows up against decent defenses and Tressel allows him to be a playmaker. I know he looked really good against Oregon and showed flashes of brilliance in other games, but Tressel is notorious for keeping a tight leash with his QBs(outside of Troy Smith), and with that defense there is no reason that he'll ask Pryor to do much more than manage this offense. Not saying Pryor doesn't have the ability, but that team won't let him maximize his skill set.

Beyond that, though, the list looks reasonable. UM doesn't really have that stud player coming into the season, and I really cannot see a position here where they should have a representative outside of maybe Molk or Schilling on the OL and Stonum as a returner. Still, I expect this team to compete all season, and would not be surprised to see a couple of Wolverines make the end-of-the-year list.

In that case I think Tate is the #1 QB in the big ten, when he shows up. I know what you're trying to say but if we are going to judge players on "if" then we can at least pick players on our team. I haven't seen anything fro Pryor that tells me he can be a great QB in the big ten week in and week out. I know he looked good in the Rose Bowl. But he was about the same size as Oregon's DT. If I recall correctly he was only 280.
As far as where we are ranked, that will all work itself out. That's one of many reasons it's good to be a wolverine, if we win we will shoot up the polls and our players will get the recognition the deserve.

After going 4-1 (with an away OT loss), a lot of pundits jumped on the "this is the second-year jump for RR teams" bandwagon. After falling flat in the second half, no one's going to rank us higher until we prove it

I have two points to make. First to Not A Blue Fan: In all due respect, I think it is a little pre-mature to make a bold statement on a Michigan blog that Rich Rodriguez does not "get it." Now, if Rich Rodriguez is still consistantly losing once he has his system and players in place, then I believe you may have a point. I have heard this statement from many OSU fans that RichRod doesn't "get it," and they always seem to bring up the loss to Pitt the year West Virginia could have made it to the National Championship Many forget that Pat White was hurt halfway through that game and was clearly never the same during the game after the injury. After two seasons I just don't think there is any evidence to clearly back up such a statement.

Second, I am on the bandwagon that Terrelle Pryor is one of the most over-hyped players coming into this year. I painfully watched many OSU games last year and continually realized that Pryor has a horribly inaccurate arm. Does it look like he floats in the air when he runs, absolutely, but Tressel will never allow him to fully reach his true potential in running that offense. I would venture to say that 5-8 of his touchdown passes last year were from Hail Mary throws where the receivers were not even remotely close to being open. Pryor has a lot of hype to live up to and he did not live up to it 2 years ago or last year, and I have a "gut feeling" that this year will be no different. Also, having a coach like Tressel leaves no doubt in my mind that Pryor will never live up to the hype. Please remind me of the last time Tressel developed an All Star QB.